10 Don't Tell Me!

"Don't Tell Me!"
Don't you hate it when someone loves you enough to tell you the
truth about something you don't want to admit to? Our Scripture today is
the perfect example - God, in his love, tells the Israelites and ourselves -
what we need to hear. Today we hear words of judgement - but why is
God giving them to us? So we can be saved from ourselves and our
wicked ways.
Now you may not think that you HAVE any wicked ways, but I
assure you, you do! Certainly our society has. In our society, people
cannot wait to make a buck on us! Buy a house and your mailbox will be
full of people wanting to help you. After I bought my present home I got
wonderful news in the mail - I could pay so much less each month if I
would just take their offer of a mortgage - they could reduce my mortgage
payments by more than half. I'm sure they could, but down the line I
would be faced with a financial crisis that could cause me to lose my
home.
Marketers stay awake nights trying to figure out how to get you to
buy things you don't need at prices you can ill afford with hidden costs you
would never think about.
A friend of mine known for being astute in financial matters was
asked to check an offer that a fellow got for a good price he saw on a
book he wanted AND, THERE WAS MORE - three additional books -
FOR FREE! What was wrong with this picture, the fellow wanted to
know. What was wrong with the picture came to light when my friend
called to inquire - "How much is the shipping cost on the free books?"
Answer: "$9.99 on each free book" The three free books cost $30 -
but that was not disclosed. You had to have sense enough to ask.
In our society, free books are not free. Lowering your mortgage
payments causes them to increase. "No interest and no payments until
next year" means you're going to get into all kinds of trouble down the
road - and it's always the poor that get poorer - that get taken advantage
of.
The people in the time of Amos who wanted to prey on the poor
couldn't wait for them to pray! They lamented that Sabbath rules and
Holy Day regulations kept them from preying on the pray-ers. They were
in need of a major make-over in the ethics department. So are we.
WE - you and I - may not be preying on people, but we may be
letting our society dictate how much we pray - that is P.R.A.Y.
For most Christians, church involvement has gone from "All
Aboard!" to "Smorgasbord" - meaning that Christians used to center their
life around the church and were "All Aboard" - onboard - for everything
that went on there - Sunday School, Sunday morning service, Sunday
evening service, Wednesday evening Bible Study and all sorts of committee
meetings in between, not to mention Men's Club, Women's Fellowship
and all that.
Then it went from "All Aboard" to "Smorgasbord" - where people
began to pick and choose among the events. The church had to stop
some events because no one attended them.
Our church, trying to keep up with the times realized this and
began putting all its efforts and finances into the Sunday morning service,
and tried to do it in a "Don't Be Bored" manner, offering professional
singers to amplify the sound and success of the volunteer choir. We
attended seminars that taught us to move the service along - no more
asterisks while latecomers are seated - no more waiting until the choir is
comfortably seated to begin the Scripture Reading.. People don't like to
wait. "Serve both elements of the communion at once" so the once a
month event doesn't's go "overtime."
But the fact remains that when your lives were centered around
the church, your lives were more altruistically inclined, your ethics were
informed by "What would Jesus do?" and living with your fellow Christians
taught you that we could all, indeed, "get along."
What is your life centered around now? Take a moment and
ponder that question.
We know that we are busier doing "something" than we have ever
been and our time saving devices have a lot to do with the fact that we
have less time than ever for ourselves.
It's true, I can e-mail a reply to someone in the blink of an eye
with a few taps on the keyboard of my computer - but how long does it
take to go through your email everyday?
But I wouldn't give up for anything the things you send me that
teach me things -
things that little children have learned - you can't baptize cats!
things that adults have learned - families are like fudge..mostly
sweet but with a few nuts.
things about growing old - forget the health food - I need all the
preservatives I can get - when you fall down, you wonder what else you
can do while you're down there - and that there are four stages of life -
You believe in Santa Claus
You don't believe in Santa Claus
You are Santa Claus
You look like Santa Claus.
Still, I'm glad that the computer company didn't build my car -
otherwise it would crash every now and then - the airbag system would
say "Are you sure" before deploying, and my warning lights would say,
"This car has performed an illegal operation." and if it stopped on the
freeway I would have to close all the windows, shut it off, restart it and
reopen the windows. to make it do what it's supposed to do.
And those computers that make such fast work of everything - did no
one every tell us how much time we would have to take trying to get it to
do what it is supposed to do. Did they tell us how much time we would
spend waiting for the computer to download, upload, reboot, or to print.
For some unknown reason, my computer will blink at me for about 10
minutes before it will acquiesce to printing a "Word" document. Fortunately,
I'm locked into Page Maker which prints its documents immediately unless
the document is extraordinarily memory intensive - like your bulletin cover
this morning - it's pretty, but it took awhile.
Well, you've had a while to ponder on what you center your life
around. I'm afraid to ask for how many of you the answer was "The
T.V.!" If I were a crueler ruler and not the fast pastor, I might ask how
many of you have declined to come to a church event, because there was
something on T.V. you just had to see. I have one word for that: TIVO!
Then you can select what you really want to see, you can fast forward
through the commercials and choose who gives you the news and avoid
those who say there is no spin attached.
God does not allow us to put our own spin on our lives....he tells
us like it is - and does so to help us, to heal us, to draw us to Himself. The
job description for God, is thankful, at a minimum, two fold - to judge us
and to save us - to save us from ourselves and our society.
Our first reaction when God judges us is DON'T TELL ME!
Our second reaction, after we ponder a bit, is DO TELL ME. Tell me
what I need to know about myself - what I am centering my life around -
what I am emphasizing with my life and what tools I need to us e to get
where I need to be.
Often with my Page Maker program I ask the computer to place
a picture in my document. But if you don't use the proper tool, it's not
going to happen, so I choose the proper tool very carefully.
One tool to insist on is to forsake not the assembly of yourselves
together with your church family - a family to be sure - like fudge - mostly
sweet but with a few nuts - but we're it.
A friend of mine has continued to attend my service club here in
Miami Beach even though he has moved to Naples - because he misses
us "nuts" as he calls us - the club there was too staid, too old in spirit - too
disinclined to do new things in new ways - he preferred us - sometimes a
little raucous, irreverent, and lacking in bureaucratic followthough. Now
this club is trying something new - meeting on Tuesday nights which will
rule out this nut and the Naples nut from attending. I have tried two clubs
since then - one was too snooty and the other was too absolutely perfect
- they did everything by the book - right out of the Rotary manual I'm
sure, but there was something missing - I would call it the family factor - I
didn't sense that presnet. Perhaps if I had attended for a longer period of
time.
We have the family factor here and some of us are nutty enough to
keep things interesting and we're always bugging you to help the poor - to
hang out at the homeless events - to buy toothbrushes and toothpaste and
all the rest.
A major tool for you and very hard to use on your own - the Bible
- the Bible is so complicated that it needs an interpreter. In our Sunday
morning class, that's me, but in addition we all learn from each other - not
just learning the Bible, but learning how the passages we read are to be
lived out in the daily experience. Just when people are really of an age
where they can really learn and understand about the things of God, they
give up Sunday School You can change that. We meet each sunday at 9
a.m.
And so, God calls us into question - asks us to examine ourselves
- where we are - where we're going - what we're centering our lives
around - standing ready to receive us , forgive us, embrace us.
It is very important for you to remember that God's forgiveness is
based on God's amazing determination to have a family - and he has
chosen us - nuts and all to be His Family. God made us, it is said,
because he loves stories - and boy do we have some stories for Him! But
at least we're not too snooty and we're not too good - too perfect - too
boring. There's no telling what we're going to do next or say next - hopefully
whatever it is will prove we have a sense of humor - like Elenor Roosevelt
who said, "I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered.
but I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: No
good in a bed, but fine against a wall!"
or George Burns who said "The secret of a good sermon is
to have a good beginning and a good ending and to have the two as
close together as possible.
So I close with this illustration from Deb Sistare who worried
about how God would judge her grandfather - who seldom went to
church - perhaps because he had a secret - he had a drinking problem.
Shortly after his death Deb had a dream: "Grandpa was standing at
the bottom of a steep, pearl-white staircase that reached way into
the clouds. He gazed up at a huge angel who held out a satiny,
emerald-colored robe, open and waiting, it seemed for Grandpa
himself. When Grandpa headed up the stairs, he wasn't shuffling.
At the top of the stairs, the angel helped Grandpa into the robe and
tied the sash so the rich folds of material fell around him. Then the
angel took Grandpa's hand and together they disappeared into the
clouds.
Deb's grandmother was concerned about whether God
would receive her husband - welcome him. "He didn't go to church
much. I don't know if he asked God's forgiveness. I'm so afraid
he didn't go to heaven."
So Deb told her the dream she'd had. Her eyes filled with
tears and she said "He made it Deb. He really made it."
Deb said, "It was just a dream.
"Let me tell you something" her grandmother said,
"something we have never told anyone. One Sunday at church
where we were first married, your grandpa saw an angel standing
right on the altar. He said that angel was at least ten feet tall,
standing right behind the preacher and smiled down at him during
the service. And your grandpa said that angel was wearing the most
beautiful green robe - a robe that glistened like emeralds were the
words he used. 'When I get to heaven," he said, 'I want a green
robe just like the one that angel was wearing. ' What else could
that dream be but a sign from God that Grandpa is with Him?
What else, indeed. God sees our weaknesses and he loves us
despite them. He calls us to challenge them even as he prepares to welcome
us on our arrival. Don't Tell Me! No, DO TELL ME!
Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)July 22, 2007 10:30 a, m. Amos 8:1-12
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.